Sprint offers $2.1 billion to acquire the rest of Clearwire

May be a low-ball bid, as stock jumps on offer news.

As most observers expected, Sprint has finally made a formal offer to acquire the rest of Clearwire.

On Thursday, Sprint said it would pay $2.1 billion for the remaining 49.7 percent of Clearwire that it does not currently control. As we reported yesterday, the move is widely seen as a play for Sprint to acquire Clearwire’s valuable 2.5GHz spectrum, which it would use to offer LTE and strengthen its position against Verizon and AT&T.

The bid works out to $2.90 per share—higher than the company’s closing price on Wednesday—but analysts say the offer may not be good enough.

"It's trading slightly above the offer price, so you can imagine it will be difficult for the independent committee to settle for the $2.90 price," Bernstein analyst Craig Moffett told Reuters.

As of this writing, Clearwire’s price has risen and is now at $3.09 per share.